DIG for Thursday the 30th of August…..righteousness, righteousness, righteousness…..2 Corinthians 5 v 21

I have been accused a number of times of being a “one message preacher”. Allegedly I am always talking about righteousness.

I would say that I am guilty as charged!

I am always talking about my righteousness and always teach that as a born again believer you are righteous as well.

I believe knowing that you are righteous is one of the most important fact you can know (along with knowing that you have been forgiven!).

I can testify that knowing you are righteous will change your life and change your actions.

As you realise you are righteous because Jesus loves you and has made you righteous your life will change.

You will live a more holy life and you will sin less; the Word says so (1 Corinthians 15 v 34).

Righteousness is the truth that needs to be your foundation in your Christian walk.

Because of the work of Jesus you have been made righteous.

Meditate on this truth and it will change your life!

2 Corinthians 5 v 21…..For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

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DIG for Wednesday the 29th of August…..praise Him, be glad and rejoice…..Psalm 9 v 1 and 2

The Psalms are a wealth of truths about the Lord and also about how we need to live our lives.

The start of Psalm 9 talks about praising God, being glad and rejoicing.

These are all actions that we can choose to do or not.

They are not, or should not, be dependent upon conditions.

By that I mean that praise, gladness and rejoicing need to be a lifestyle choice for the believer under all circumstances. They should not only be seen in us when things are going well.

We are asked to rejoice evermore; that is rejoice all the time (1 Thessalonians 5 v 16)>

The Psalmist does not say praise, be glad and rejoice if things are going OK; this is advice for at all times.

We do not just rejoice and give praise when we are happy and full of joy. We will feel joy and feel happy when we rejoice and give praise. Do you see the difference?

Praise and rejoicing will induce a feeling of wellbeing; they should not come from that.

God loves us so much and has done so much for us that He deserves our praise and worship whatever state we find ourselves in.

Whatever you are feeling or going through right now start to give praise and rejoice and see how you feel then?

Psalm 9 v 1 and 2…..I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee; I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High

DIG for Tuesday the 28th of August…..God thinks about you….A LOT…..Psalm 139 v 17 and 18

Did you know that God, the Lord of the Lords and the Creator of the entire universe thanks about you?

These verses tell us that He thinks about the Psalmist, and as He has no favourites (He loves us all) this verse holds for you also.

He thinks about you; He thinks about you a lot.

I remember once preaching on this Psalm and actually calculated how many grains of sand were in a small cup. It worked out to be millions; I cannot remember the precise number and to be honest I don’t fancy working it out again (it is nearly bed time!).

With millions in a small cup can you imagine how many are on your local beach and then in all the beaches on earth and then in the Sahara Desert………

The number of grains of sand on the earth is too large for you to imagine or even think about.

Yet this is the amount of thoughts that God has had about you; indeed this is the amount of thoughts He has had about everyone.

But ponder the fact that God has thought about you millions and billions and trillions of times. That is truly awesome.

You are a special person given the amount of times God has had you on His mind and on His heart.

You are truly special!

Psalm 139 v 17 and 18…..How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee

DIG for Monday the 27th of August…..you are fearfully and wonderfully made…..Psalm 139 v 14

This verse in the Psalms should make you sing and shout for joy!

You are not an accident of birth; God created you and He did not make a mistake.

The Psalmist writes that he was fearfully and wonderfully made, and this holds for you as well.

Fearfully means with awe, reverence and respect.

Wonderful just means wonderful!

God made you with respect and you are wonderful; do you believe that?

You should believe this as the Word is the truth.

You can rest assured tonight that God does not see you as a mistake; He thinks you are wonderful.

Ponder on that fact for a while and see how your mood will lighten.

Focus on this verse; focus on what God thinks about you.

Do not focus on what any other man says about you; focus on what your Heavenly Father has to say about you

Psalm 139 v  14…..I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…….

DIG for Sunday the 26th of August…..the light of His Word will break apart your bondages…..Galatians 5 v 1

In church this morning one of the guys mentioned to me a dream he had the night before and wondered what it meant.

It was a wonderful example of a dream given by the Lord for encouragement of the flock (Acts 2 v 17).

He saw a torch shining out a light and the light was surrounding a rope, and he saw the rope being destroyed.

He wondered if the light was the light of the Word and that the rope signified a type of bondage. Was the Word destroying bondages? YES!

What a wonderful dream; it was so encouraging. I of course shared it with the whole fellowship and think it is appropriate to share with you as well.

Are you held in bondage today? Do you have bondages holding you back today?

Jesus died to remove your bondages; you can read about this all through His Word.

He removed the bondage of illness, poverty, rejection and so much more.

Get into His Word and find the freedom from the bondage that you need; and then never go back!

Jesus died to set you free; and His Word will tell you so!

Galatians 5 v 1…..Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yolk of bondage

 

DIG for Saturday the 25th of August…..He holds you and leads you all the time…..Psalm 139 v 10

The Lord wants to hold you, guide you and lead you.

In every area of your life He wants to be involved showing you the appropriate path to go.

He has decided the path that you should tread (Psalm 139 v 3) and wants you to walk that way.

That is the way of blessings and He wants you to walk into them.

This verse is a wonderful picture of how the Lord will lead you.

He has His right arm around you and holding your hand with his left hand.

This is intimate and personal, and that is how He wants to be with you every day.

It is a picture of your Lord holding you gently and guiding you at the same time.

That should make you feel safe and secure; He is holding you.

It should also make you feel worthy and purposeful; He has a path He wants to guide you done.

Enjoy those truths today!

Psalm 139 v 10…..Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me

DIG for Friday the 24th of August…..He is interested in you enough to know all about you…..Psalm 139 v 1 and 2

The Lord is interested in everything about you.

This verse talks about knowing when you sit and when you stand; this is a picture of His infinite interest in you.

He is interested in the big things in your life and in the small things; in the important decisions and the mundane.

He is interested in you because you are His creation and He loves you.

Meditating on this truth will allow joy and peace to flow.

You will not be able to be depressed in you meditate on this fact and truly believe it.

If I ever encounter a believer suffering from depression or lack of joy I point them in the direction of Psalm 139.

This Psalm has a number of awesome truths about what God thinks about every one of us.

Read this Psalm today and believe what it says about you, and believe what God is saying about you!

Psalm 139 v 1 and 2…..O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off.

DIG for Thursday the 23rd of August…..it is written; powerful words you can against the enemy…..Matthew 4 v 4

The Word of God is a very powerful weapon that you can use to fight against the enemy.

You see, if the Word was good enough for Jesus in His fight against the enemy it is most definitely good enough for us.

We all know about Jesus being tempted by the enemy in the wilderness (see Matthew 4 and Luke 4).

When we see Jesus being tempted what do we see Him doing?

Does He shout, pray, fast and ask God to free Him from temptation? Does He beg and plead with the enemy to leave Him alone?

No; He uses the Word of God to show that the enemy is a liar.

He says “It is written……” and then goes on to explain that God speaks the truth and that the enemy is a liar.

When the enemy tells us that we are sick we should say “It is written that by His stripes I am healed (1 Peter 2 v 24 and Isaiah 53 v 5)”.

When the enemy says we are worthless and meaningless we should say “It is written that God loves me and has a plan for me (1 John 4 v 9 and 10 and Jeremiah 1 v 5)”.

When the enemy says we have been rejected we should say “It is written that I am accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1 v 6)”.

Jesus used the Word of God as a weapon, and so should you. Pick up your weapon and yield it today; yield it on whatever area of your life that you need victory in.

Matthew 4 v 4….. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

DIG for Wednesday the 22nd of August…..want to operate in faith; listen to the Word then…..Romans 10 v 17

I am not going to tell you today how to get more faith.

You already have THE measure of faith (Romans 12 v 3) and you have the faith OF Christ (Romans 3 v 22). You do not need more faith.

I am going to tell you however how to operate more in faith and live more through faith.

To operate in more faith you need to hear the Word of God; that is what Romans 10 v 17 is telling.

The Word will change your life for the better, allowing you to operate in faith.

Faith is having a positive outlook and trusting that the good things of God are coming to you (Hebrews 11 v 1).

Faith is positive imagination; and as you think will change the way you live (Proverbs 23 v 7).

To change your life you need to change how you think or change how you operate in faith; hearing the Word of God is what you need.

Read your Word aloud today and listen!

Romans 10 v 17…..So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God

DIG for Tuesday the 21st of August…..the Word is a seed to be planted and nurtured…..Mark 4 v 14

The Word of God is like a seed.

A seed requires to be planted before it will grow; it will then produce fruit.

A seed grows into a plant and a plant has capacity to produce fruit; this is the purpose and nature of a seed.

If the ground into which a seed is placed is good, free from stones and weeds, it will grow and produce fruit.

It also requires to be given time; apples and oranges for example do not appear and ripen overnight.

In Mark 4 and Matthew 13 Jesus describes the Word of God as a seed, and shows us that the ground is our heart.

He says that if we plant this seed into our heart it has the ability to produce fruit.

If we plant a seed into ground prepared to receive it and give it time we will produce fruit. We will live lives of a more holy nature with less sinful actions. We will be a blessing to others.

The Word of God is described as the incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1 v 23); it is perfect.

If we prepare our hearts, plant His perfect Word and nurture that Word we will produce fruit in our lives.

We have to initially plant the seed; you must read and meditate on the Word!

Mark 4 v 14…..the sower soweth the seed